


The Life of Urgra

by DungeonsWithOccasionalDragons



Series: The Life of Urgra [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), HOTA, Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-14 08:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16909749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DungeonsWithOccasionalDragons/pseuds/DungeonsWithOccasionalDragons
Summary: This is a collection of flashbacks into the backstory of Urgra, the half orc ranger I play in the HOTA D&D 5e campaign every Tuesday at 6:30 Pacific Standard time on...  https://www.twitch.tv/hotarpgWe also upload the videos of previous streams at... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1_GM_o0sizZkQjPpjpt3VQ/videosAs I ended up replacing one of the original 4 players, my character makes it's first appearance in episode 61.





	1. New Beginnings

The girl grit her teeth and failed to hold in a wince as a sharp finger jabbed painfully into her back. 

“Don’t slouch. Stand up straight.” 

She could hear the smug grin in the man’s voice and even though he walked several feet behind her. The stench of the things he smoked constantly made her want to gag… or kick the bastard in the fork of his legs. The human had quickly recognized her sensitivity to the smoke and had taken every opportunity to blow it in her face ever since. 

It was even worse since they entered this building cutting off any breeze or fresh air. She had only seen a human city once before, from afar, and now she was deep in the heart of one. 

The girl had never felt more trapped in her life. 

Everywhere she looked there were signs of unnaturalness. The water in the painting of a ship floating on a calm sea would ripple, causing the boat to rock gently with the waves. All of the torches glowed with pale blue light that didn’t waver or sputter. 

While two of the humans had broken off from the group when they arrived at the building, she was instructed to keep following the woman and Smokey kept a constant watch on her from behind. The woman’s robes drifted and snapped with each turn down the hallways and her gait touted a deep sense of pride. She looked perfectly clean despite having just traveled for several days. One wave of her hand and any form of filth would disperses from her person; dirt, shit, sweat, blood....

“You would do well to listen to him, Initiate. You’re about to make your first impression with the people who will be shaping your future. Given your appearance and lacking education thus far, it would be in your best interest to make it a good one.”

She couldn’t help but make a face at the woman’s lofty tone. It’s not like the woman even bothered to turn around when she spoke to her anyway. 

“The path your future takes directly depends on your performance here. Perform well and you may find a place in society. If your mind proves to be of no value, there are several who have already expressed interest in your physical form.” 

She couldn’t help the shiver that traveled down her spine. She heard Smokey’s wheezing laughter and stuck her chest out, holding up her head defiantly in response. Smokey seemed to find this even more amusing. 

“There are currently five others in your age group.” the woman continued. “There is also one who was moved ahead from the lower level due to his advanced performance. It may be advantageous for you to utilize him.”

“Giving out free advice? You getting sweet on this thing, Smythe?”

The woman stopped walking. 

Slowly, she turned around completely to face Smokey. 

Her face was expressionless with no lines or scars marring her peaches and cream complexion. Her hands were held loosely in front of her as she absently stroked the amber gem of the ring decorating her right hand. She looked directly at Smokey, as if the girl wasn’t even present. 

“It is just possible that this girl could become a valuable asset. If some additional care is required to achieve the optimal results, then I would say the ends justify the means. Wouldn’t you agree, Specialized Soldier Dalton?”

The girl held her breath. She could feel her heart hammering against her chest. She prayed not to draw the notice of the woman. Especially not now when she was speaking in that detached tone. 

Dalton chuckled as he replied “My mistake, Smythe. I was just curious if something had finally crack that icy veneer of yours.” 

The man guffawed at his own joke but it quickly trailed off into awkward silence as the woman’s face continued to remain immobile beyond an occasional blink. 

“My apologies, General Smythe. I’ll keep such personal statements to myself in the future.” 

“See that you do.” And with that, the woman, Smythe, abruptly turned on her heel and continued walking down the hallway at the same sedate, yet efficient pace. 

The girl let out a large breath. 

Minutes passed walking through the winding hallways bathed in pale blue light. The girl struggled to keep her eyes open as one hallway blended into the next. She couldn’t remember the way out and yet, even though she felt like that should be bad, she felt calm and drowsy. 

Eventually the woman stopped in front of a nondescript wooden door. 

Knock Knock Knock

“Enter,” answered a warm baritone voice. 

Smythe opened the door and immediately walked inside. The girl peered inside to see a warmly lit room with several people inside. A rotund blond human man stood conspicuously at one end of the room facing the rest who were sitting at wooden desks. 

“Please forgive the intrusion Sage Peck. I thought it prudent to induct the newest recruit as soon as possible. Initiates, meet our newest Initiate, Urgra.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of Chapter 1

“Initiates, this is our newest initiate, Urgra.”

Urgra felt her heart stop.

She looked up at Smythe who gave a cold knowing smile.

Throughout the entire journey Urgra hadn’t made conversation with anyone, least of all Smythe. She had most certainly never mentioned her name. 

Urgra heard someone clearing their throat. Apparently it was the blonde man, called Sage Peck, who was standing in front of the others. As Urgra puffed up her chest walking to stand next to him, she could hear the two other girls in the room giggle. 

Sage Peck smiled down at her, apparently giving her a chance to introduce herself. When Urgra looked back to check on Smythe, all she saw were the last bit of her cloak snapping through the door frame followed by a decisive ‘click’ as the door shut. 

Looking out at the rest of the people in the room Urgra saw that they all appeared to be around her age aside from the blonde man. 

The two girls who had laughed at her a moment ago were sitting next to each other along a wooden bench. The one along the center aisle had very angular features, dull grey skin and slightly pointed ears. When she grinned meanly at her, Urgra could see a pair of sharp canines. Urgra lifted her lip to show off her own, please to see that the grey girl was taken aback. 

The girl sitting next to her was definitely human. She had peaches and cream complexion like Smythe but her hair was much lighter and braided back into two identical braids down her back. Her fingernails looked like she had just washed and had never seen a day’s work in her life. Though she was on the shorter side, that didn’t stop her from somehow managing to look down her nose at Urgra with an assessing look. 

The person next to the blonde girl was strange. They were maybe a little older than the two girls and had a willowy build, dark mahogany skin and full lips. They seemed too muscled to be a girl, but if it was a boy, it was by far the prettiest boy Urgra had ever seen. When Urgra met their eyes, they gave her an smirk and waggled their eyebrows at her. Definitely a boy then. 

Sitting next to darker boy was another boy. His narrow face was pale with freckles. His dark hair was cut very short which only brought more attention to his bushy eyebrows. His face was propped up against his hand and looked like he would rather be anywhere else at the moment. 

Clearly giving up on Urgra making an introduction, Sage Peck cleared his throat again and said “My name is Sage Philip Peck and I am the instructor for this class of Initiates. Now I’m sure that all of you recall how disorienting it can be to be in a new place with new people and will give Urgra every courtesy and kindness as she settles in. Urgra, this class is primarily composed of children ages nine to ten. Some of them have been in the program for years and a few have only been here a short time. Why don’t you join Eli and Roman at their station.”

Urgra moved over to the other table that Peck gestured to containing only two children. The first was a boy with notably pointed ears, ear length curly copper colored hair, round cheeks and was waving to her excitedly with a face splitting grin. 

The child sitting hunched next to him was bundled up like he was about to freeze. He wore gloves that covered his hands, a full robe and a hood with a threadbare scarf wrapped around his lower face so the only thing visible were his dull blue eyes. 

The same eyes Urgra and every other child in this room had. 

Urgra walked towards to waving boy who quickly started shoving the bundled child to the side to make room on the bench along the aisle. Smiling back at her, the boy patted the now vacant section of the bench that was intended for her. 

Withholding a sigh, Urgra sat next to the practically vibrating youth. 

“Now that that is settled,” said Peck, “I think it would be a good idea for an early break so everyone can get to know each other a little better.” And with that, Peck walked to a desk in the corner of the room and pulled out a book and, with a genial nod to everyone, began to read quietly. 

“Hi there!” 

The curly haired boy had all but yelled it while leaning right up to her ear causing Urgra to almost fall off the edge of the bench. Scoffs and twitters of laughter from behind her told Urgra that her clumsiness had not gone unnoticed. 

Scrambling to help her back onto the bench, eyes wide with regret and embarrassment the boy blabbered “SORRY! Sorry! Sorry! I’m such a clutz sometimes! Are you alright?”

“I fine!” replied Urgra in what she hoped was an unaffected and mature voice. 

Having gotten Urgra settled back on the bench, the boy raced on “My name is Elijah Reed but you can just call me Eli. And this over here” as he motioned to the wrapped up child “is Roman Denholm. He’s super smart and super good with magic. We’re the youngest in the group so we stick together. How old are you? I’ve never seen someone who looked like you before.”

“That’s because she’s a half-orc you nitwit.” As Urgra turned, she saw it was the girl with the blond braids who cut off Eli’s rambling. “Human and orc if I had to guess, though Goddesses know how any human could possibly bare to touch an orc.” 

The blonde girl gave what Urgra thought was an extremely overly dramatic shiver causing her braids to jerk behind her. 

“Orcs are known for being big dumb brutes. I have no idea why she’s here with us. Or why she was escorted by General Smythe of all people…” Here the blonde girl trailed off. Clearly waiting for Urgra to provide an answer. 

The girl could hold her breath until she turned blue and dropped dead for all Urgra cared. 

“I’m not even convinced the ugly thing knows how to talk Allie.” The grey girl said. “She hasn’t done more than grunt and glare since she entered the room.” 

Urgra felt her blood pounding in her head. The children from the other bench had now all gotten up and surrounded her, observing her like some kind of animal. She quickly stood so they couldn’t keep looking down at her. 

“I can talk just fine! And you’re one to talk about being ugly! You look like some lumpy lizard took a crap and then rolled it around in soot!” 

The expression on the faces of the two girls was well worth it. The blond girl’s mouth was opening and closing like a fish and the grey girl’s face turned a dark charcoal color. 

The few sweet seconds of silence and victory were broken by chuckling and then full out laughter from the dark skinned boy. 

“Well she certainly can talk, can’t she?” he laughed holding his stomach. The blonde girl closed her mouth and struggled through a sour looking smile that made her look like she’d just swallowed a moldy piece of meat. 

“You can’t really blame her when you insulted her first Kim.” The dark boy went on to the grey girl before extending his hand “I’m Carlos Trollope. A pleasure and a privilege. And this here is Allison Bradshaw” motioning with his head to the blonde girl, “Kimberly Zino” the grey girl, “and Clifford Forbes.” to the boy with freckles who showed only slightly more interest than before. 

After a second’s hesitation, Urgra reached out and grabbed Carlos’ hand along the forearm giving it a strong squeeze. This reaction caused Carlos’ eyebrows to almost disappear into his bangs. 

“Do you have a last name Urgra?” Carlos asked. 

“No.” Urgra replied, still feeling uncomfortable being surrounded by new people even if they were only children. Quickly sizing each of them up she figured that she could take Eli, Allison and Clifford without any issue. The last three she wasn’t so sure about. 

It was while having that thought that Urgra’s stomach let out a extremely loud grumble. 

“Oh you’re hungry!” Said Eli, clearly oblivious to the fact that he was stating the obvious. “Sage Peck, do we have time to get a snack really really quick?”

Sage Peck looked up to give a quick nod before going back to his reading. “You have about 8 minutes left so keep that in mind Eli. Don’t dawdle.”

And before the words had even finished leaving the man’s mouth, Urgra felt herself being being pushed from behind through the perimeter of other children by Eli chanting “Go! Go! Go!” as they raced towards the door out of the room.

**Author's Note:**

> Ideally I am going to go for weekly updates. I do not anticipate the chapters being in a linear timeline but instead, each week's flashback will related to the events that happened in that week's episode so they may not make the most sense if you don't watch the campaign. I picture these excerpts being basically a novice's attempts at the writing style of George RR Martin ;) 
> 
> Enjoy everyone!


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